first off .. why does each season have to start with every team having an equal opportunity to make the playoffs. for starters, 14 teams will not make hte playoffs. for seconds, some teams are in a rebuilding phase and finally others just dont deserve to be in the playoffs due to their poor managing.

secondly, it is as simple as not paying more than you can afford. if the Canucks dont want to pay the Sedins, what choice do the Sedins have ? play in Sweden ? ok, see ya. VAN took a stand with Schaefer and didnt pay him more than they wanted too and they can do it with the Sedins too.

its simple if you have balls. its simple if you dont give a rats ass what other teams do and only worry about managing your team. if hte player has leverage (arbitration or pending UFA) then so be it. make a business decision and walk away from the player. it wont hurt you to replace a guy who can command 4m with a young guy who makes 900k. really it wont.

dr

it won't hurt??? really?? well when the player who's commanding 4 mil is one of the better talent on your team, or at least is an up and cmoing talent then i'd say it would considering that on the ufa market if a player's only looking at 900k he must not be that great, thus hurting the team's chances of getting very far

if you have the balls you do your best to keep the player that can help your team the most, and as i, and many others have mentioned, that often times involves more than one team vieing for the player, which increases what you have to offer to try your best to keep him on your team, THIS is how salaries have escalated so rapidly, THIS is how players end up overpaid thanks to one good season, THIS is where the majority of the problems occur

you might be fine saying see ya to the sedins...but there's many owners and gm's out there who wouldn't be so happy having to do that to their younger players especially

by what you're saying there should be 14 teams every year that can spend as much as they can to ice the next best things to allstar teams, just because only 14 teams will make the playoffs... should we forget about the other 16 teams just because they may be in a rebuilding process?... does a rebuilding team have the same shot as any other team in the league? ... i should hope they do, just because a team is in a rebuilding mode doesn't mean that they can't compete for the cup like the big spenders do... the teams that don't deserve to be in the playoffs, i'd be interested in who you think those are and why.

EVERY TEAM deserves to have a shot at making the playoffs, they deserve the best shot they can manage, it's one thing if they try and don't succeed, it's another to say nope, you suck so don't even bother, hell, why should those teams that don't deserve to be in the playoffs even be in the league... kick em out, tell em to make their own damn league and find their own damn trophy